translation question

[Andrew Hicks]

The Czech film "Babi leto" will most likely be known as "Autumn Spring"
when it goes into general release here next year.  I believe the
distributors considered "Indian Summer," but decided that the American
term didn't quite connote a "second wind," as Alina Israeli puts it, and
thus wouldn't give a good idea of the movie's subject.


A side note on the term's derivation:  Growing up in semirural Ohio, I
never perceived "Indian Summer" to be derogatory.  The prevailing
explanation was that Indians had a far superior knowledge of the natural
world, and thus planned on a late spell of warm weather while the white
settlers were already preparing for winter.

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Alina Israeli


As for bab'e leto, it's not such bad or offensive thing in either
language.
In English, according to my trusted Cambridge Dictionary, it also means
'a
pleasant or successful time nearly at the end of a particular period,
such
as the end of someone's life'. If it's "pleasant" or "successful" it
couldn't be too offensive.

As for the Russian, think of it in conjunction with

"sorok pjat', sorok pjat', babka jagodka opjat'" (or something like
that),
so it is like second wind in woman's life (as some female
Prime-ministers
have proven).

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